「這是一隻箱子，你要的羊就在裏面。」

"No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another."

So then I did my drawing over once more.

可是他卻不慌不忙地好象有一件重要的事一般，對我重複地說道：

"You see yourself," he said, "that this is not a sheep. This is a ram. It has horns."

He looked at it carefully, then he said:

「啊！」

「我不要，這隻羊已經病得很重了。給我重新畫一隻。」

He bent his head over the drawing:

我就這樣孤獨地生活著，沒有一個能真正談得來的人，一直到六年前在撒哈拉沙漠上發生了那次故障。我的發動機里有個東西損壞了。當時由於我既沒有帶機械師也沒有帶旅客，我就試圖獨自完成這個困難的維修工作。這對我來說是個生與死的問題。我隨身帶的水只夠飲用一星期。

我不耐煩了。因為我急於要檢修發動機，於是就草草畫了這張畫，並且匆匆地對他說道：

"Not so small that-- Look! He has gone to sleep..."

我象是受到驚雷轟擊一般，一下子就站立起來。我使勁地揉了揉眼睛，仔細地看了看。我看見一個十分奇怪的小傢伙嚴肅地朝我凝眸望著。這是後來我給他畫出來的最好的一副畫像。可是，我的畫當然要比他本人的模樣遜色得多。這不是我的過錯。六歲時，大人們使我對我的畫家生涯失去了勇氣，除了畫過開著肚皮和閉著肚皮的蟒蛇，後來再沒有學過畫。

"No, no, no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant is very cumbersome. read.99csw.comWhere I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep."

Ⅱ

「並不象你說的那麼小……瞧！它睡著了……」

「請你給我畫一隻羊，好嗎？」

就這樣，我認識了小王子。

But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with,

我就給他畫了。

「沒有關係，給我畫一隻羊吧！」

I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge:

第一天晚上我就睡在這遠離人間煙火的大沙漠上。我比大海中伏在小木排上的遇難者還要孤獨得多。而在第二天拂曉，當一個奇怪的小聲音叫醒我的時候，你們可以想見我當時是多麼吃驚。這小小的聲音說道：

"What!"

這時我十分驚奇地看到我的這位小評判員喜笑顏開。他說：

我又畫了起來。

And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence: "If you please-- draw me a sheep..."

So I lived my life alone, without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with me n九九藏書either a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life or death for me: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week.

當一種神秘的東西把你鎮住的時候，你是不敢不聽從它的支配的，在這曠無人煙的沙漠上，面臨死亡的危險的情況下，儘管這樣的舉動使我感到十分荒誕，我還是掏出了一張紙和一支鋼筆。這時我卻又記起，我只學過地理、歷史、算術和語法，就有點不大高興地對小傢伙說我不會畫畫。他回答我說：

By this time my patience was exhausted, because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart. So I tossed off this drawing.

"But-- what are you doing here?"

「我給你畫的是一隻很小的小羊，地方小也夠餵養它的。」

"If you please-- draw me a sheep!"

That, however, is not my fault. The grown-ups discouraged me in my painters career when I was six years old, and I never learned to draw anything, except boas from the outside and boas from the inside.

When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey. Absurd as it might seem to me, a thousand miles from any human habitation and in dange九*九*藏*書r of death, I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain-pen. But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar, and I told the little chap (a little crossly, too) that I did not know how to draw. He answered me:

And I threw out an explanation with it.

「不，不！我不要蟒蛇，它肚子里還有一頭象。」

我聽了他的話，簡直目瞪口呆。他接著說：「巨蟒這東西太危險，大象又太佔地方。我住的地方非常小，我需要一隻羊。給我畫一隻羊吧。」

Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment. Remember, I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region. And yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands, nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear. Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert, a thousand miles from any human habitation. When at last I was able to speak, I said to him:

他專心地看著，隨後又說：九*九*藏*書

我的這位朋友天真可愛地笑了，並且客氣地拒絕道：「你看，你畫的不是小羊，是頭公羊，還有犄角呢。」

"That is exactly the way I wanted it! Do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass?"

於是我又重新畫了一張。

「請……給我畫一隻羊……」

"There will surely be enough grass for him," I said. "It is a very small sheep that I have given you."

So then I made a drawing.

「唉，你在這兒幹什麼？」

「這一隻太老了。我想要一隻能活得長的羊。」

The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little voice. It said:

他把腦袋靠近這張畫。

「為什麼問這個呢？」

But it was rejected too, just like the others.

「這正是我想要的，……你說這隻羊需要很多草嗎？」

這副畫同前幾副一樣又被拒絕了。

I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraordinary small pers九*九*藏*書on, who stood there examining me with great seriousness. Here you may see the best potrait that, later, I was able to make of him. But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model.

「因為我那裡地方非常小……」

My friend smiled gently and indulgenty.

"Because where I live everything is very small..."

"Draw me a sheep!"

And that is how I made the acquaintance of the little prince.

[ Chapter 2 ] - the narrator crashes in the desert and makes the acquaintance of the little prince

我驚奇地睜大著眼睛看著這突然出現的小傢伙。你們不要忘記，我當時處在遠離人煙千里之外的地方。而這個小傢伙給我的印象是，他既不象迷了路的樣子，也沒有半點疲乏、饑渴、懼怕的神情。他絲毫不象是一個迷失在曠無人煙的大沙漠中的孩子。當我在驚訝之中終於又能說出話來的時候，對他說道：

"This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time."

So I made another drawing.

因為我從來沒有畫過羊，我就給他重畫我所僅僅會畫的兩副畫中的那副閉著肚皮的巨蟒。

"Why?"

「給我畫一隻羊……」

"That doesnt matter. Draw me a sheep..."

"This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside."